With the progress in CT scanners in recent years, it is desirable to apply them not only to the medical field but also to the general industrial field. In fact, in some areas of the industrial field they are already being put into practical use.
Along with the high power output of engines for automobiles and motorcycles due to recent improvement in their performance there is also a need to improve in the performance of tires from the viewpoint of safety. To this end, there is a need for a device which is capable of conveniently carrying out various tire performance tests with high precision, and it is expected that the CT scanner will apply to this field. In the existing state of affairs, there is such a device which takes CT scans of a cut sample specimen placed on a specimen table that is installed between a radiation source and a radiation detector by rotatively moving the specimen table for more than (180.degree.+ fan angle), or takes CT scans of an uncut tire by rotatively moving the table also for an angle of more than (180.degree.+ fan angle).
However, these methods of CT scanning all represent tests of a tire under a resting condition. For this reason, in applying the CT scanner to the testing of tire characteristics by taking full advantage of the nondestructive nature of the CT scanner, appearance of a CT scanner which is adapted for testing the characteristics under the operating conditions, namely, those characteristics in the loaded or running conditions of the tire has been desired earnestly.
Moreover, from the nondestructive inspection point of view, it is conceivable to use an X-ray television system for such tests of tire characteristics. However, because of the fact that the information obtained by such a method represents a two-dimensional perspective image which is an integration of a three-dimensional information, sufficiently detailed inspection may not be expected to be obtained for items with a intricate structure such as a tire.